Candlelit Desire
by slightlysmall
Summary: Rose was so far away from them, secluded in her tower, opposed to having fun, and generally opposed to Scorpius Malfoy in general. So that feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her nauseated and gave her butterflies - that feeling had to have a different name than jealousy.


**A/N: Written especially for Laux14 for the Yuletide Fic Exchange! Happy Christmas, Lau! For you, I've used the prompts "extravagant," "icing," "delicate," and "fragile."**

**This was also written for the Let's End This the Way We Started It Competition and the 5 Christmas Keys Competition. My keys were "silver bells," "frozen shut" (I used "freeze shut"), "spilled salt," "rag doll," and "candle."**

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Desire is the starting point of achievement. And if there was one thing Rose Weasley definitely had, it was desire. She desired more Os on her N.E.W.T.s than any of her classmates; she desired to do better than her mother had in school; she desired to get out into the world and make something of herself. Everything she wanted could be explained very simply. Everything she wanted made sense. Except for one thing - Rose Weasley could not figure out why she desired Scorpius Malfoy.

Christmas was nearing, and Hogwarts was covered in snow. The lake had frozen over, icicles hung from the turrets, and everyone was annoyingly cheerful. Rose wasn't sure how she was supposed to concentrate on revising with so much commotion around her. She pretended to be bothered by it, unaffected by the snow outside. But there was never snow in London, so as Rose sat in Ravenclaw tower alone, she abandoned her books and stared out the window.

Even from her vantage point, she could see a snowball fight taking shape on the lawn below. It seemed to be Weasleys versus everyone else, if the blurs of red hair were any clue. Scorpius was fighting against Lily Luna right now. He charmed a pile of snowballs to follow her around, chasing her. When the last of his snowballs hit its mark, he tackled her into the snow and their bodies shook with laughter. Rose was so far away from them, secluded in her tower, opposed to having fun, and generally opposed to Scorpius Malfoy in general. So that feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her nauseated and gave her butterflies - that feeling had to have a different name than jealousy.

Whatever its name, it was because of that feeling that she found herself grabbing a scarf and woolen mittens and racing down the hallways of Hogwarts to get outside. She was glad everyone else appeared to already be out there - she had no excuse to explain her haste, and as a Prefect, she should know better. She slowed near the Great Hall, which was already extravagantly decorated for Christmas. Twelve Christmas trees were decorated and spread out along the room. Tinsel hung from the table. Along a far wall was a myriad of silver bells, enchanted to float in the air and play Christmas carols. Rose slowed, stopping to listen as they played "Sleigh Ride," one of her favorite Muggle songs. After all, it was lovely weather for a sleigh ride. She quickly dismissed the image that came to her head - one of rolling along in an old-fashioned sleigh, Scorpius Malfoy at her side.

The snowball fight was over by the time she made it out to the grounds. Her cousins had made their way to one side and were building a snow fort. Scorpius, to Rose's dismay, hadn't joined them. Instead, he was walking out across the field towards her. "Hey, Rose. Finally give up on studying, have you?"

"Well I couldn't concentrate anyway. I could hear you and Lily laughing from Ravenclaw Tower." Rose did her best to look displeased, but a pouting face on Scorpius sent her laughing.

"Aww Rosie, was our having fun distracting?"

"Scorpius, stop. You're going to make me cry from laughing so hard - and in this weather, that would probably freeze my eyes shut."

"Okay, okay, I'll be kind. On one condition."

"What do you want?"

"Meet me for dinner tonight."

"What? Why?"

"Because you're boring and you need to have some fun in your life."

"Thanks, Scor, but I like my boring life."

"And you like dinner. So if you want, I will make it the most boring dinner imaginable."

Rose laughed. "No you won't."

"You're right. I won't. But it won't be anything crazy, okay?"

She sighed. Certainly, she wanted to go. But she didn't _want_ to want to go. Half-tempted to make some snide remark about him asking Lily instead, she just nodded her head.

"Good. I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall at 7:00."

The two of them had been in healthy competition with each other since they got on the Hogwarts Express as first years. Between then and now, they had formed some kind of fragile friendship, one Rose was scared would break, especially as she realized that perhaps friendship wasn't all she wanted from him.

Getting ready that evening, Rose tried to pretend like she wasn't trying harder than normal, like it wasn't the first time all year she'd bothered straightening her bushy red hair, or borrowing makeup from Lily (who kindly didn't ask questions). She tried to pretend like it was just another dinner. But as she arrived in the Entrance Hall five minutes early, she knew she wasn't fooling herself. There was a distinct possibility that she was in love with him.

Twenty minutes later, Rose was still trying to figure out how she found herself outside in the freezing cold, having a picnic with Scorpius Malfoy. She was still trying to figure out why she was enjoying herself so much, too. Candles were placed over the hard-packed snow, the delicate glow lighting up the area in a way that Rose had to admit was romantic. The meal itself was simple - just fish and chips prepared by some of the house elves, with a cake for dessert - but she was grateful for it all the same. After all, it was her favorite, and Scorpius had remembered to bring out salt and vinegar for the chips. "Scor, this is really wonderful. Thank you."

"Of course. I've been wanting to do something like this for you since the beginning of the year, but it took me awhile to come up with the courage to ask you."She blushed and turned to face him. "You have?"

"Yeah, I have. Maybe even part of last year, but I had a hard time admitting it to myself." He smirked at her.

She looked down. "I'm having a hard time admitting it too," she said, leaning in toward him. This morning, she never would have thought that she would try to kiss Scorpius Malfoy of her own accord, especially without any mistletoe involved. But as she leaned in, her elbow knocked over the salt shaker, spilling salt all over their blanket. "Oh no!"

"Rose, it's fine! It's just salt. It barely got on the cake - we can just scrape of some of the icing."

"But spilling salt is bad luck, you know. I'm sure I'm done for - failed N.E.W.T.s, relationship problems... I'll probably catch cold, too. We'll stay out past curfew and I'll get my first-ever detention or-"

Scorpius grabbed her by the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes, sternly at first, but softer as he kept speaking. "Rose. Rose, you know better than to believe in luck. We'll create our own luck, and I'm sure it will be the best there ever was."

He stood and pulled her up with him. "Now I think there was something we were supposed to be doing." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips to hers. "Finally," he mumbled between kisses. Rose sighed, falling into his embrace like a rag doll and losing herself in the feeling of his body against hers. Thoughts of bad luck and N.E.W.T. grades, the freezing cold and curfew, petty things which had completely preoccupied her moments before, were pushed completely aside by their growing desire.


End file.
